Sunday, March 27, 2011

State of the Blog: Part Three, the Challenges

Spring has sprung -- not that it feels like it today -- and it is time for me to see if I've made any progress on my lists.

This is the third of my quarterly blog assessment posts. This one takes a look at the challenges I'm working on in 2011. The first part addressed my lists. Part Two dealt with my author lists.

NOTE: If you are working on any of these same challenges, please leave a comment here on on my main challenge post. I would like to read your main challenge pages and any reviews.

2010 CHALLENGES

There are a few challenges that overlapped from 2010. I finished two of these in January, the two "Battle of the Prizes" challenges that I hosted in 2010. Both started on February 1, 2010 and didn't end until January 31, 2011.

National Book Award winners v. Pulitzer Prize winners, rules here. There are two ways to participate -- either read one book that won the Pulitzer Prize, one that won the National Book Award, and one that won both; or read two Pulizer winners and two National winners.

Like in past years, this challenge pits National Book Award winners against Pulitzer Prize winners. There are two ways to participate -- either read one book that won the Pulitzer Prize, one that won the National Book Award, and one that won both; or read two Pulizer winners and two National winners.

I don't know yet whether I will do the 3-book or the 4-book option, or which books I'll pick, but I have the following in mind, only one of which I have read so far: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (reviewed here).

The Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge is hosted by My Reader's Block. The goal is to read mysteries written before 1960. I signed up at the "In a Murderous Mood" level with the goal of reading four to six books, by at least two different authors, by the end of the year.